The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-01-16

man slowly descended the mountain, toward
the city below. He made his way directly
| to the French outposts.
| ssOui vive.' cried q sentinel.
| The man replied:
~ want To see the general about some
4 thing.
sergeant and two soldiers, the man was
conducted into the presence Of Gen. Vally,
who had suddenly awakened with a start.
| He had imagined a sudden alarm-had
! dreamed that Corchuelo's band had been
reformed and had invaded San Gael
who are your he asked
II want to talk to you about Corchuelo."
| ''Ah! Corchuelo. Here Is at least the
tenth party who promises to deliver up the
rascal. And not one OF them knows where
he is. ~
Il know
! That's what they all sayr' cried the
general, with an oath. II want to hear no
more of it. Sergeant! take this man to the
guardhouse, nd lock him up for the night. -
II know where Corchuelo is, reiterated
the Spaniard with vehemence. Pay me
twenty napoleons, and he's yoursr'
you can have fifty if you tell the
truth. But here remember this: if you
try to deceive me, or fall to deliver up the
brigand, you shall be punished; IN have
you put in jail $"
IAN right" replied the man, with . smile
of disdain.
Well then, where is hes-tell me!''
The Spaniard put out his hand, and ex-
planned that he wanted to have the gold
first, and to be allowed to deposit it in .
place of safety;-they could send as many
soldiers with him as they pleased Then he
| would deliver up Corchuelo-not before.
The. general shouted, swore, stormed,
81. ~
terms, finding himself conquered by the OBJ
stinacy of the mysterious informer who
appeared sure of himself. He paid him
down the promised sum, sent q strong
force of men to accompany him, and
awaited the result with impatience.
Internal rnscals, these Spaniardsr' he
muttered, pulling away at his pipe with
fury. For a miserable 600 francs! After
ALL that Corchuelo is a brave fellow! In
fernal scoundrelsr'
An hour afterward the escort returned.
and drew up in order before the general
The Spaniard advanced.
We'll, so you We hidden your gold, eh,''
said Vally in a sneering tone. Afraid it
might be taken away from You again, little
| Judas, ehs And Corcheulo?"
The man shrugged his shoulders, spit on
the ground, stuck his hands into his pock-
cts, and then simply observed-looking
away into vacancy as if he did not really
know what he was saying:
I'm the man.
Utterly dumfounded, and hardly know
ing what to say himself, Vally first ex-
claimed, ''AhT"-then, with q burst Of
laughter, he roared out:
''You are making game OF me- you infer
nal scamp
''You have my description, said the
man who called himself Corchuelo. ''See
for yourself. Look; here's the scar Of tho
wound in the arm that l got the other day;
and here, ON my breast, is my name, ia
tooed by the San Gael blacksmith. II that
doesn't satisfy you, you can ask any Of the
people ronnd here
And he exposed his broad, hairy breast on
which appeared-pricked in blue letters with
hot needle, the nanse-CORCHUELO.
The general had ceased to laugh; but he
could not understand. In a gentler voice he
asked:
But what do you want to give yourself
up for2''
My friends are dead, my wife is dead,
my child is dead-you killed them all.
| I've lost even the old rifle / thought SO
much of. So just said to myself; 'Herei
whats the good of living, anyhow
Then there was a young shepherd who took
care of me when l was wounded. and who
wanted twenty napoleons to marry his
sweetheart, old Ferraguxza's daughter.
Poor Juanillo, if you'd seen him when
gave him the gold.-cried and kissed my
hand Asked me when was going away,
| if expected to meet my Dolores told
! him YES
Corchuelo ceased to speak, put his hands
in his pockets, and whistled-
In the morning he was identified bv the
people Of San Gael, and the general, greatly
affected by the pride and heroism OF the
man, summoned him to his presence and
said:
Listen; am obliged to kill you II
had my own way, you rascal, 1 would send
you back to your mountains and your lib
erty. You are as grand as the revolution,
as grand as the empefori But / am under
orders. You are . soldier also--you under
stand that you must de-
Corchuelo nodded and replied:
That's what came here for
''Now, tell me il there's anything that I
can do for yous' said the general is
there anything which you would like me to
! dos'
The bandit thought for moment, and
then said:
''Give me a loaded pistol; let me say my
prayers, and when you give the command
'firer Corchuelo will cease to be Corchuelo. I"
The general looked at the man - Napo-
leon would have looked at Cesar. rs Leoni-
das would have looked at Hannibal. then
he replied:
| 1t shall be done"
| In few minutes all the troops left at
San Gael were mustered in the camp, and
drawn up in battle array before a hillock
which arose in the center Of the camping
ground. 1t was about 8 O'Clock IN the
evening and the sun was sinking in the
horizon. Upon the hillock Corchuelo and
the general stood alone, in attitudes which
seemed at that moment supernatural, SC
much grandeur did the circumstances and
the character OF the man who was about to
! die lend TO the o,-casion
Not a soldier present moved; above the
immobility of the men there moved only
the steely SILVER of the bayonets. which
the dying sun now ensanguined with his
red light. Corchuelo WAS gazing at the
mountain where Juanillo was probably,